Yesterday started my 6th month of being on the Daniel Plan for better health and as I was walking I was looking back at what I have gained over the past 150 days because of this decision and wanted to share them as a hopeful source of encouragement.
1. Peace:
You know that feeling you get when you are right where the Lord wants you, even when all hell breaks loose around you? Yep, that's peace. It is a beautiful thing to wake up and know this is what He wants me to do. I love the peace of knowing that I am pursuing glorifying Him through being a good steward of what He has entrusted to me.
2. The choice is mine, the strength is His:
God did not create us to be non thinking, non decision making puppets who sit limply by waiting for Him to move the strings and we respond lifelessly. EVERY day I have a choice to make of whether I am going to continue to pursue this road to health or if I am going to not. I have a choice of whether I will move my body or not. The big difference? His strength to do it. When I humbled myself and said I cannot do this by myself (and I have spent 35 years trying!!), that became a vessel in which He could work. Make no mistake... I have worked very hard at making good food choices and moving my body, but the want to has come from the Lord.
3. Living in the moment:
I am usually all about making plans, having some goals, and being a control freak about much in life. The Lord is changing that through the DP. I now work at being prepared, yet living from one decision to the next...or walking in the Spirit. An example: Prior to the DP, my weight loss efforts were based on perfectionism and when I would fail, I would throw in the towel. Now they are based on moment by moment decisions. When I choose to eat something that isn't that healthy for me at one meal, I am allowing that to be what it is - ONE decision. I am learning to make the next decision to be a good one. I am finding that the good decisions far out weight the bad. It's about health and that is made one decision at a time.
4. Encouragement:
In the past week alone, I can recount at least 6 people who have been a direct encouragement of my efforts! Everything from asking about my fitness goals of hiking to being told they were proud of my efforts. Just yesterday, my friend Carrie asked how I was doing and I told her and her response was "Well I can tell you are sticking with it!" Those simple words put wind in my sail for the rest of the day. My days are often smattered with moments of encouraging words from those around me. I have discovered that there are people who want to help me accomplish my goals, whether it be my new love of hiking to eating a healthy meal. Friends who have rallied around me and supported my fitness to ones who call and invite me to dinner, cooking healthy for me. It has blown my mind and filled my heart! I hope to return the same to those around me.
5. I love pushing myself more and caring what people think less:
This realization makes me giggle. I have never pushed myself physically before. Now I find myself pushing some limits that I would have never done. I have actually found myself, **GASP**, jogging during my walks! It makes me LOL! I have also found myself zigzagging down the road to get in more steps, not caring that those around me may think I look like a dork! I also have taken up hiking and am finding that I love it. I like to challenge myself to climb things I would not have before, to walk a bit farther than before, to finish well. I may not be overly graceful, but I am doing it.
6. Grace:
This is the sweetest lesson of all. I realize that I didn't have a clue what true grace was all about and I am still in the learning process. I was so hard on myself and everyone else around me (so sorry!) to be something that the Lord never intended. I viewed my Heavenly Father as something of a tyrant who was ready to smite me or at least be vastly disappointed in me every time I mess up. Nope, that is simply not the case. Yes, I believe God is serious about sin and we should be as well. Yet, I also believe He is well aware of our frail human nature that rages war inside and He showers us with so much grace to deal with it. I am finding that He truly does care and wants me to succeed, and, shocker...wants to help me succeed!! The DP has been freeing in that realm for me and I am embracing it with all I have and hope to spread it to others as well. I love Jesus more than I did when I started this and I didn't think that possible.
These are the rewards. It's these non visible motivators that keep me after it. I've lost pounds, but they aren't near as important as what I have gained!
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